Casinos are not what they used to be, but perhaps it is because of the men behind them.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump has become an American cultural icon signifying wealth and business savvy. Originally a real estate tycoon, Trump has succeeded to varying degrees with little formal education. He has parlayed real estate holdings into luxury resort casinos. Trump’s company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, owns such resort behemoths as the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And while many sources argue his casino revenues continue to spiral downward, Trump has found time to star in one of reality television’s most popular primetime shows, “The Apprentice” where he pits enterprising teams of young business moguls against each other, in turn critiquing their performances.

Steve Wynn

Steve Wynn of Mirage Resorts Company fame has been revered as being the re-inventor of the new Las Vegas. Wynn’s father was a gambler and introduced his son to Las Vegas as a youngster. At that time, Las Vegas was a city of seedy, smoky casinos and cheap restaurants. When Wynn returned to Las Vegas as an adult during the 1960s and 1970s, he began a literal takeover of casino ownership in the city. Beginning with a face lift to the well known Golden Nugget, Wynn began building the Mirage Resorts Company empire. In the last decade, Wynn has singlehandedly added the newest spectacles of resort and casino luxury to Las Vegas with household names like the Bellagio, the Mirage, and Treasure Island, among others. His Bellagio is a magnificent feast for the senses. It features elements of extravagant design and engineering, including the well known dancing fountains, its own botanical gardens, a distinguished art gallery and, last but not least, an upscale casino gaming experience. His soon-to-be completed Wynn Las Vegas resort will be the most expensive casino resort ever built, weighing in with a price tag of approximately three billions dollars, twice the cost of the Bellagio.

Sam Boyd

Sam Boyd moved to Las Vegas in the 1940s and parlayed little money into a successful career in a number of casinos before investing in a casino of his own, along with his son Bill who became his partner in the 1970s. Their company, Boyd Gaming, owns casinos in Las Vegas and a number of other states, but has received recent accolades for their Borgata Hotel, Casino and Spa in Atlantic City. The Borgata was the first new casino to Atlantic City in over a decade. Its modern, hip luxury shows the Boyd’s Las Vegas influence.